AMSTERDAM – Nine out of 10 (92%) European consumers agree that changes need to be made to current online video advertising in order to improve the viewer experience, according to a new survey of 4,000 consumers in the UK, France and Germany, which was commissioned by online video solutions provider, Brightcove Inc.

When asked to pinpoint their specific objections to video advertising, consumers cited irrelevancy, volume and poor delivery – with 67% choosing to stop watching their selected content as a result of one of these issues. Additional questions around the online video advertising experience revealed that:

• 73% have experienced poor video ad delivery (i.e. buffering, failing to load)
• More than half (51%) are frustrated by the number of online video ads
• 74% have had a negative experience with the content of an online video ad
• Over a third (36%) rarely or never see an ad relevant to their personal interests

The findings – published in Brightcove’s The Ad-Verse Consumer: European Video Advertising Tolerances in a Digital Age – highlighted that, while many respondents agree that the range (54%) and quality (47%) of online video content has improved in the last year, video advertising has struggled to keep pace:

• 73% say the quality of video ad content has remained unchanged or declined
• 72% say the range of video ad content has remained unchanged or declined
• Nearly a quarter (23%) say the volume and frequency  of video ad content has worsened

Against a backdrop of increasing adoption of ad-blocking technologies, the findings suggest that publishers need to change their approach to monetising online video content or risk losing out on viewers and associated revenue. However, with 50% of consumers admitting that they are not willing to pay for any type of online video content, simply switching to a subscription model does not appear to be the answer.

Mark Blair, Vice President of EMEA at Brightcove, explained, “At Brightcove we believe that consumers absolutely have the right to avoid broken, annoying and intrusive ad experiences but, at the same time, companies have the right to monetise and promote the content they put a lot of money into producing. The key to marrying the two is finding a balance – improving the user experience so they are more willing to accept ad content.

“It should encourage the industry that two thirds (66%) of the consumers who participated in the study say they understand and agree that it is fair for publishers to use online ads to fund free content. But with only one in ten (11%) saying they always have positive experiences with the online ads they are served, the room for improvement is clear.”

When asked for their opinion on the top improvements that could be made, participating consumers called for the following:

• 57% would like video ads to be shorter
• 41% would like the ability to fast forward through the ads
• 21% would like video ads to be more targeted at them
• 58% would be more likely to tolerate an online video ad if it is interactive